Radiator shutter



Nov. 20, 1962 T. L. FRANK 3,064,632

RADIATOR SHUTTER Filed March 21, 1961 f/vmm/Top:

fi o/ ies LESLIE) FRHNK.

3,064,632 RADIATOR SHUTTER Thomas Lesley Frank, The Rookery, Allethorpe Hali, Allerthorpe, England Filed Mar. 21, 1961, Ser. No. 97,210 Claims priority, application Great Britain Mar. 24, 1960 1 Claim. (Cl. 123-4104) This invention relates to shutter arrangements, for liquid-cooled internal combustion engines, its first object being to provide an improved construction wherein automatic opening and shutting action of the shutter system is obtained according as to whether the engine is running or not.

A second object of the invention is to provide improvements whereby the shutter means may have a seected degree of opening, corresponding to a given stroke of shifting means therefor.

A third object is to provide improvements whereby the connection between the shutter means and its shifting 'means may be made temporarily non-effective, such that the shutter may remain fully closed for extreme coldweather conditions and/or for rapid warming up of the engine.

According to the present invention, an automatic shutter arrangement for liquid-cooled internal combustion engines comprises adjustable shutter means, a shifting device having an operating position corresponding to running of the engine and a rest position corresponding to the engine being stationary, and linkage serving to couple the shifting device and the shutter means such that the shutter means are moved in the opening direction by movement of the shifting means towards its operating condition.

The shifting means may be any that will give two positions of operation dependent upon the running of the engine. By way of example, it could be an electrical device (such as a solenoid) energised from any suitable part of the usual generator circuit, e.g. in the usual voltage control circuit of the engine. Again it could be a depression-actuated device operated by the creation of partial vacuum in the intake manifold of the engine, or yet again it could be a fluid or liquid pressure operated device such as a piston and cylinder or equivalent arranged in the exhaust system or in the (pumped) water cooling system or in the (pumped) oil circulating sys tem.

The shutter means may conveniently comprise a plurality of individual shutters, such as pivoted vanes, which may have return springing means.

In a preferred form, the linkage includes means permitting incorporation of a selected amount of lost-motion, such that a selected degree of opening of the shutters may be obtained for a given stroke of the shifting device. Such adjustment of lost motion may be obtained by the adjustable positioning of a fulcrum of a lever included in the linkage.

The linkage may for instance include an abutment member coupled to the shutter means, a pivoted lever capable of engagement with the abutment member, means connecting the lever to the shifting device, and a fulcrum for the lever adjustably mounted for varying the amount of movement required to be made by the lever before it contacts the abutment member during an actuation, i.e. shutter-opening, stroke of the shifting means.

In a first example, the lever may be a simple lever pivoted at one end to a fixed but adjustable fulcrum and apertured or otherwise formed at its other end to receive or engage with a push rod coupled to the shutter means and carrying an abutment member capable of engagement with the lever, the shifting means being coupled to the lever intermediately along the length of the lever.

In a second example, suitable for use where the shutter means are capable of operation (to open them) by means of a pull-rod the lever is a two-arm lever pivoted on a fixed but adjustable fulcrum, one arm being coupled to the shifting device and the other arm being apertured to receive a pull-rod coupled to the shutter means and carrying an abutment member capable of engagement with the arm.

In order to allow for hot weather conditions it may be desirable to arrange that the shutter means are never closed, irrespective of the stopping of the engine. For this purpose, there may be included, in the arrangement, means for retaining the linkage in the condition where the shutter means are fully open. By way of example, such retaining means may include a latch on the lever adapted to engage with a fixed stop in one selected position of the adjustable fulcrum but adapted to be disengaged from the stop upon movement of the fulcrum out of that selected position.

In order to permit easy variation of the amount of opening of the shutter means obtained for the constant working stroke of the shifting means, the fulcrum is advantageously coupled to a manual control having a number of position of setting, e.g. for cold weather, temperate weather and hot weather. To allow for conditions of extreme cold, it may be desired to arrange, temporarily, that the shutter means do not in fact open at all irrespective of the running of the engine, e.g. to allow also for a rapid warm-up of the engine when very cold. For this purpose, the manual control may have an extreme position of setting in which the fulcrum is positioned such that there is lost-motion between the pivoted lever and the abutment member and the shutter means accordingly remain closed irrespective of the condition of the shifting device. For convenience, the manual control is spring-loaded in that extremeposition, so as to require manual retention in that position.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, an embodiment of apparatus in accordance therewith is hereinafter particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows a schematic lay-out of a shutter assembly and control and actuatin g means therefor.

This apparatus is intended for the control of air-flow through the usual coolant radiator of an internal combustion engine. A conduit 1 is connected to any convenient point of an oil-circulation system in which the oil is pumped by the motion of the engine. The conduit 1 leads to a cylinder 2 Within which is slidably arranged a piston 3 having a sealing O-ring 4. The rod 5 of the piston carries at its other end a fork 6 carrying a pivot supporting an apertured arm 7. It will be apparent that when the engine operated, the oil pressure may push the piston 3 along the cylinder 2 and carry the arm 7 with it. The lower end of the arm 7 is pivoted to a control link 3, and if it is assumed for the moment that the link 8 is a fixed element, it will be seen that any left-wards movement of the arm 7 (in this drawing) will cause it to rotate anti-clockwise about its point of connection to link 8. During such anti-clockwise movement, the upper end of the arm 7 moves towards a pin 9 on a push rod 10 passed through the aperture of the arm 7. Lost motion occurs until such time as the arm 7 contacts the pin 9. Further motion in the same direction by the arm 7 causes the pushrod 10 to be moved leftwards so as to rotate a bell crank 11 in the direction to pull a coupling rod 12 and thereby open all of a set of shutters 13, each pivoted at a point 14, against the action of a return spring 15.

When oil pressure in the conduit 1 falls to zero, the piston 3 is pushed back along its cylinder 2 by the return spring 16 therein, and the shutters are all returned to the closed condition by the return spring 15.

A manual control lever 17 is connected by the inner wire of a sheathed cable to a control rod 19 connected the arm strikes the pin 9 during the operation described earlier. The result of this adjustment is that, for warmer weather (with the appropriate setting of the lever 17) the shutters tend to open both somewhat earlier and to a'greater extent. Further movement of the lever 17 to a position S (summer) causes the arm 7 to be moved into contact with the pin 9 so that there is no initial lost motion, and the shutters will be moved immediately the piston 3 is moved, and to their fullest extent. I

On the lower part of the arm 7 is pivoted a latch 20 which is'urged anti-clockwiseby a tension spring zl. This latch rides, by its right-hand end, against the underside of a fixed plate 22, and when the position of full travel of the arm 7 is reached, the stepped portion of the latch engages the end of the plate and locks the arm against return movement, whereby the shutters will remain in open position even if the oilpressure becomes reduced to zero, Excessive upward movement of the right-hand end of the latch 20 is prevented by a distance piece 25 onthe arm 7.

If the manual control lever 17 is subsequently moved clockwise away from the S (summer) position, it will permit the rod 19 to be moved left-wards by a compression spring 23 abutting against a pin 24 on the rod 19, causing the arm 7 to be rotated clockwise, whereby the latch 20 is drawn downwards and slides out of engage- .ment with the projection 22. Under these conditions, if there is no oil pressure applied, the shutters will close under the influence of their return spring 15. The ,locked-open position cannot be regained until oil pressure is restored and the manual control lever 17 moved into S (summer) position.

For conditions of extreme cold the control lever 17 may be moved clockwise about its pivot 27 (and must be held) to compress a spring 26. This gives an extreme left-wards position of the control link 8 in which the arm 7 is initially positioned so far clockwise that no movement of the piston will cause the upper end of the arm to contact the pin 9, whereby lost-motion is 100%, the result being that the shutters will remain fully closed even when the engine is running and oil pressure is being generated. It will be readily understood that, by reversing the relative position of the points of connection ofthe piston 3 and the control link'8 to the arm 7, and by putting the pin 9 at a similar spacing v.011'tl1e .other side of the arm 7,

the apparatus can be made to operate in a precisely similar manner but with pull being exerted on the rod 10 for shutter-opening pnrposes'as compared with the push exerted in the system described. Similarly the crank 11 can be replaced by any other motion transfer device, or where pull is exerted to open the shutter, may be eliminated so that the rod It acts directly on the rod 12.

The control lever 17 would conveniently be mounted adjacent the dash-board or in some other position readily accessible to the driver of the vehicle.

I claim:

An automatic shutter arrangement for the radiatorof a liquid cooled internal combustion engine, comprising adjustable shutter means for disposal in the air flow of the radiator, shifting means, comprising a piston and cylinder arranged in the engine water cooling system,

having an operating condition corresponding to the state of running of the engine and a rest condition corresponding to the engine being stationary, an abutment member coupled to the shutter means, a pivoted lever capable of engagement with the abutment member, means connecting the lever to the shifting device, afixed frame, a ful- 1 crurn for the lever mounted on the frame, said fulcrum being adjustable on the frame for varying the amount .of movement required by the lever before contacting the abutment member during actuation of the shifting device, a latch on the lever adapted to'engage a fixed stop in one selected position of the adjustable'fulcrum to retain the linkage in the shutter-open position, said latch being adapted to be disengaged from the stop upon movement of the fulcrum out of that selected position.

References Cited in the'file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

